Oxford LibGuides: Witchcraft & the law in early modern Europe & USA: North America

North America

Online databases and resources

Those described as "open access" are available to all with access to the internet.

Early American Imprints - Evans 1639-1800
Remote access requires Oxford SSO A major digital collection of full-text early printed American imprints (1639-1800),
Alternative name: News Bank

A major digital collection of full-text early printed American imprints (1639-1800), compiled originally in the American Bibliography by Charles Evans and enhanced by Roger Bristol's Supplement to Charles Evans' American Bibliography.
The collection of 37,000+ imprints embraces every aspect of life in 17th and 18th century America (history, literary, religion, witchcraft, agriculture, foreign affairs, temperance, etc.). Genre of material is very wide-ranging. In addition to printed books, pamphlets and broadsides, the collection also covers anything from advertisements to chapbooks, diaries to gazetteers, and hymnals to wills.

Old-time blue laws : from the records of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, (including the witchcraft code)
Open access version via Hathi Trust digital library of public domain materials Holders of an Oxford SSO can also read this via MOML: Making of Modern Law
Narratives of the witchcraft cases 1648-1706
Remote access requires Oxford SSO E-version of work originally published in 1914. Edited by George Lincoln Burr. Print copy is in BHFL Lower Camera Open Shelves
BF1573.A2 B8 NAR 1992
Goody Garlick (1658)
Open access. Overview of trial of Elizabeth Garlick of Easthampton New York by Smithsonian Institute
A brief history of the Salem Witch Trials (1692)
Open access From Smithsonian Institute.
Salem Witchcraft Trials (1692)
Open access One of the Famous Trials series by Douglas O. Linder (2013) University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.
Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project
Open Access database published Scholars' Lab of the University of Virginia Library and
Institute for Adanced Technology in the Humanities

There is a particular subject search to use in SOLO for the Salem phenomenon

Trials (Witchcraft) -- Massachusetts -- Salem -- History -- 17th century

Note Pay attention to the location of any material found in SOLO searches: as well as Bodleian History location, SOLO results may reveal that the Vere Harmsworth Library (University of Oxford's principal research library for US studies) has useful material too

The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America by Brian P. Levack (ed)
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this work online via title lin
ISBN: 0199578168
Publication Date: 2013
See especially chapter in this work called Witchcraft and the Law by Levack.
For print copies Bodleian History Faculty Library Lower Camera Open Shelves BF1569.O94 OXF 2013
The ruin of all witches : life and death in the New World by Malcolm Gaskill.
Call Number: BHFL Upper Gladstone Link KFM2478.8.W5 GAS 2021
ISBN: 9780241413388
Publication Date: 2021
Click on the title link to see if your College library also has a copy!
The Salem witchcraft papers : verbatim transcripts of the legal documents of the Salem witchcraft outbreak of 1692 by Boyer, Paul S ; Nissenbaum, Stephen;
Call Number: Vere Harmsworth Library KFM 2478.8 .W5 S24 1977
ISBN: 0306707555
Publication Date: 1977
3 volumes
The Salem Witch Hunt: a brief history with documents by Richard Godbeer
Call Number: Vere Harmsworth Library BF 1576 .G63 2011
ISBN: 0312484550
Publication Date: 2011
Storm of Witchcraft : the Salem trials and the American experience by Emerson W. Baker
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this book online via title link
ISBN: 019989034X
Publication Date: 2014
Print copy is in Radcliffe Camera Upper Gladstone Link KFM2478.8.W5 BAK 2015
Science and Justice: The Massachusetts Witchcraft Trials by Sanford J. Fox
Call Number: Open Access book available free to anyone with internet connection
ISBN: 9781421430430
Publication Date: 1968 (republished 2019)
Open Access online Print copy is at KA70.S3.FOX 1968 if preferred

Bodleian Vere Harmsworth

Bodleian Vere Harmsworth Library
The Vere Harmsworth Library (VHL) houses the University’s principal research collection relating to the history of the United States. Please visit the official website - via this link - for opening hours, services etc

Inter-library requests

If the Bodleian Libraries don't have the book you are looking for, we may be able to source it through Oxford's inter-library request service.

Inter-library Requests Online Form
Request on SOLO via the 'Need more?' link at the top of the page. You'll need to log in with your Single Sign-On (SSO) or Bodleian Libraries account details. Please check SOLO thoroughly to make sure an Oxford library does not hold the material you need.

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